In Isaiah 28, the people say to the Lord they've made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell, which is similar to making an agreement with the devil:
[15] Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
[16] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
[17] Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
[18] And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
"What Israel says is, 'Look, God, you can't punish us, you can't scourge us, because what we did is we went to death and hell, we had a conversation with them, and we entered into an agreement that they're not going to harm us', " explains Ohio Preacher David Reid.
"Is God who created the universe stuck with that? Does He say, 'Well, I was going to judge Israel but I didn't know they had a contract; I guess I can't.'
"In verse 18, God says, in other words, 'I'm not interested in whatever agreement you think you made; I've decided to invalidate it and your agreement with hell shall not stand.'
"What God's doing is disannulling their illegal contract and their covenant with death and hell. Israel was going to face God's judgment and there was no way out of it.
"So, let's say you're an unbeliever who's communicated with the devil and you do enter a deal and, as part of it, he promises to give you whatever you lust after and you promise not to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
"What happens if you get the riches and the worldly fame, or whatever it is you're interested in, and you then decide, 'You know what, I promised in the contract that I wasn't going to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but you know what? I'm just going to do it; I'm going to believe the gospel and become saved.'
"Satan says, 'Wait a minute! I gave you wealth and fame. You can't do this! We've got a deal!' What would happen? You want to believe on the Lord but he says you can't? We understand the contract is illegal and unenforceable.
"I Timothy 2 says: [3] For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; [4] Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
"God would save the entire world if the world would believe. If every single person on the planet decided to believe the gospel, God would be thrilled. He would save every single one of them.
"Does the devil negotiate individual contracts with people? God is omnipresent, meaning He's everywhere. Satan is not. Satan is a created being limited by time and space. He can only be in one place at one time.
"Think with me. The CEO of a fast-food company's job is not to run the drive-through; he's to set policy for the entire company. His responsibility is broader than working with one customer.
"I Timothy 4: [1] Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; [2] Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
"Satan wants to damn the whole earth, not by, 'I'm going to sit down and negotiate a contract with this person and tomorrow I'll negotiate one with that person.' He'd never get through with the billions of people on earth.
"What he wants is 'doctrines of devils' that can be repeated and taught, aired on the radio and published in books, so that those doctrines can damn millions and millions and millions of people and that's what false doctrine does.
"II Timothy 2: 26: [26] And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
"Satan doesn't negotiate with people; negotiations are for those you can't just overwhelm. Satan takes them captive. A snare is used to trap. He has traps he's set where they grab hold of people.
"If you have the really powerful, superior army you can just secure your objective by force; you take it. What Satan does is he takes people captive; he doesn't negotiate with them.
"II Corinthians 4: [3] But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: [4] In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
"What did the devil do to damn people? Did he negotiate contracts, or did he blind them so they couldn't see the light of the glorious gospel and be saved? He doesn't need bargaining power. If one party has all the force, all the power, they don't need to negotiate; they just exert their will and take them captive.
"In Matthew, when Christ was tempted in the wilderness and, of course, Christ didn't sin, what did Satan do? He said, 'If you do this, I'll do that.' You know why Satan had to try to negotiate a deal with the Lord? Which one of them had more power?
"Colossians 1:16 tells you that all things were created by Him and for Him. He's the enteral God; Satan is a created being.
"The Lord Jesus Christ created Satan. Satan couldn't go to Christ and overpower Him; he had no ability to do that. The only thing he could do was try to deceive, sweet-talk and persuade the Lord into some sort of a deal, and what did the Lord say? 'Not going to happen; not going to do it.'
"Satan offered the Lord the kingdoms of this world and you know what the Lord said? 'You don't need to give them to me; I'll take them when I want.'
"Satan says, 'No, I'll give them to you right now, Lord, let's do a deal!' The Lord's like, 'I don't need any thing you have. In my perfect timing I'll take what I want and you can't do a thing about it.' That's where Satan tried to enter a deal and the Lord said, 'Not interested.'
"So can a Believer sell his soul to the devil today? I don't think so; there's no verse in Scripture that says anything of the sort and the agreement would be an illegal contract. It wouldn't be enforceable because all you have to do to be saved, it doesn't matter what you've done in the past . . . there's no unforgivable sin in the dispensation of grace. All you have to do to be saved is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ."
(new article tomorrow)
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